India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence arrested an associate mastermind and five passengers who carried hydroponic weed into the country, in an operation code-named WeedOut.[1] Officers seized 72.024 kg of hydroponic weed, which the agency valued at around Rs 72 crore, and the proceeds of trafficking, amounting to Rs 1.02 crore, were recovered from the associate mastermind in New Delhi.[1] The DRI said the syndicate reached college dropouts and unemployed or part-time employed young people through social media.[1]

In simultaneous interceptions in the late evening of 20 August 2025 at Bengaluru’s Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station and at Bhopal Junction, DRI officers searched the baggage of passengers who had just boarded the Rajdhani Express (22691) for Delhi and found 29.88 kg of hydroponic weed at Bengaluru.[1] In a coordinated action, 24.186 kg was recovered at Bhopal Junction from two passengers who had boarded the same train in Bengaluru the previous day, 19 August.[1] A passenger who arrived in Bengaluru from Thailand on 20 August was intercepted at a hotel there in the early hours of 21 August, and another 17.958 kg was recovered.[1] In total, the seizures came to 72.024 kg of hydroponic weed, which the agency valued at around Rs 72 crore.[1]

The Hindu reported that the operation led to seizures and arrests across Bengaluru, Bhopal and New Delhi between 19 and 21 August.[2] Bhaskar English reported that DRI officers described hydroponic weed as a potent, expensive form of cannabis grown without soil in nutrient-rich water.[3]